I am always a little skeptical of contemporary psychedelic rock bands; however, I am always psyched on bands with female drummers. The Black Angels tackle a genre of music that when in the wrong hands can very easily make for boring, repetitive and forgettable albums, that have a tendency to be noticed only by those who have a retrospective appreciation of music, or a taste for home-cooked hallucinogens. Directions To See A Ghost mixes the trippy LSD laden flavors of Jefferson Airplane's psychedelic folk rock, The Velvet Underground's psychedelic garage rock, and The Doors' psychedelic pop rock (the vocal tones mimic Morrison's at times) into a concoction that is both nostalgic and scintillating. I admit that this album does have the drone and buzz that is typical of the genre—which alone can be enough to turn some people away—and at times wanders deep into the psychedelic woods, but I feel that The Black Angels revert to enough discernible pop-based hooks to be appreciated by even those who normally shy away from psychedelia. This is one of the best neo-psychedelic albums I have heard in quite a while, and the fact that The Black Angels are anchored by a female drummer only makes it that much more awesome.Enjoyable trip tracks: "You In Color," "You On The Run," & "Deer-Ree-Shee"
Watch this for a sampling of their sound from their first album, Passover:
